CycleBar Review + Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday Friends! I hope your week is going well so far and continues to get better the rest of the week!

Today I wanted to talk to you a little about CycleBar Troy! I was asked by the owners of CycleBar to come and check out one of their classes and I had so much fun! They invited some of the local bloggers to come and check out their studio and all that they offer.  And I was able to take a few friends with me and we participated in one of classes.  I had only ever done a cycle class once before so I really was not sure what to expect.

About CycleBar

In 2004, Bill Pryor and his sister Alex Klemmer decided to create one of the first independent cycling studios in the country in their Boston neighborhood. Both Bill, then a corporate executive, and Alex, a stay-at-home mom, recognized that there were three key ingredients to a successful indoor cycling experience: great instructors, great music, and a great environment. They opened their first dedicated studio a year later and have been perfecting their high-energy, cycling- focused concept ever since. Now, ten years later, Pryor and Klemmer have partnered with like-minded fitness enthusiasts to allow others to experience and benefit from the CycleBar experience.

CycleBar's Mission

• Create a fun and accessible experience for riders of all ages and fitness levels.
• Ensure every CycleBar ride is an unparalleled multisensory, intoxicating journey.
• Hire and retain the very best people.
• Fuel each ride with amazing music, energy-enhancing video graphics and rider-specific performance data in a state-of-the-art CycleTheatre™.
• Deliver concierge-level service and an exhilarating experience that goes far beyond a great cardio fitness workout.
• Rock the ride, each and every time.

My Visit to CycleBar

Upon arriving at CycleBar Troy, we were immediately greeted by several friendly faces that helped us check into the class.  They gave us a pair of shoes and showed us where to go to get changed and lock our items into a locker.  In the back of the studio, they have two restrooms and too shower rooms for anyone that needs to wash up after the class.  While we changed shoes and locked up our stuff, we were offered a bottle of water with the choice of chilled or room temp water.  They also had some bananas and apples available for us to eat either before or after the class. 

Once we were all set, they showed us where to go to get ready for the class.  When you sign up for the class, you pick the bike that you would like to sit at for the class.  They had an employee going around helping everyone get settled into their bikes as most of us had not done a cycle class before.  One of the nice things is they provide us with fresh towels to use for the class.  It was so nice to have such a soft towel available - often times the towels at a gym are not soft and are too rough for my skin.  

Once everyone was settled, the class got started and we took off! For me it felt awkward to be on the bike at first because I do not ride bikes all that often, but once we got going my adrenaline started pumping and I was ready to rock.  For this class we had TJ as our instructor and he was great! So high energy and so encouraging (plus his music choices were right up my alley).  

I also loved how high tech the bikes were - not only did you have the ability to set the bike exactly to what you need, the display had a wide variety of statistics available.  The last time I took a cycle class, I had not idea exactly what my resistance was and these bikes show exactly what resistance I was hitting, as well as my RPMs.  

The bike also takes your statistics throughout the class and throughout the class the instructors showed a lineup of how everyone was doing in the class.  It was awesome to see where I was placing in the group and actually helped me push a little harder to keep up from the bottom of the class.  The best part is after your class, you will get an email from CycleBar telling you exactly how you did at the class! I loved seeing how many calories I burned and my level of effort.  

So that was my time at CycleBar! It looks so much fun doesn't it? I've actually gone a few more times and have purchased a package from them to keep going in the future! I am hooked on the class.

 To kick off their grand opening, Cyclebar is offering free rides from now until August 7th. CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE YOUR FREE RIDE

Troy CycleBar
311 East Big Beaver Road, Troy MI
Follow on Facebook: Troy CycleBar
Go online to schedule a class: http://troy.cyclebar.com/


I am also HOSTING A GIVEAWAY! Enter to win one free ride, a shirt and water bottle from CycleBar!

Enter the Giveaway Here!

I'd love to hear from you!

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Gilmore Girls Workout

Happy Tuesday Friends! I hope you made it through the Monday Madness and are refreshed and ready to take on the day today! Personally, I am dragging my feet a bit, but Dancing with the Stars Disney Night kept me energized for a little while and I didn't end up falling asleep until late.

Okay, so how many of you are Gilmore Girls fans? If you are anything like me you are super excited about the release of Gilmore Girls Revival and the fact that Melissa McCarthy is actually going to be on the show! I don't think they have release an official date of when the Netflix show will release, but I am super excited.

All of that being said, it has been loooonggg time since I've watched Gilmore Girls, so it only seems fitting that I spend time re-watching the entire series.  So of course I reached out to my other friends that like Gilmore Girls and one of my girlfriends and I agreed to watch the series together.  So any chance we get, we make time to sit down and "watch" the show together.  This consists of us both watching it at home and texting each other throughout the entire episode.  It is kind of fun to do it this way because I now have someone to gush over the show with while I'm reliving every episode.  

Well, both of us are both trying to exercise more and lose some weight, so Caroline came up with the idea to to workouts while we watch the episodes and she found a really good TV workout for Gilmore Girls through Pinterest and we've been using that one for every episode we watch.  Shout out to Eyeliner Wings & Pretty Things for creating this great workout graphic to use! If you go to her link, you can see a good Grey's Anatomy workout too!

I have to say, I did this workout when we last watched and my calves and abs are super tight! It is a great workout!

I am hoping that Caroline and I finish the entire series before the new show airs! 

Question of the Day: What shows are you binge watching right now?

I'd love to hear from you!

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Fit for Fall 2015

Happy Friday Friends! I hope you had a great week and you have fun plans for this weekend! Right now we are planning to go to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday with some friends.  I am super excited because I finished my costume and get to wear a new one this year.

Today I wanted to share with you about the Fit for Fall #charitychallenge in which I am participating.  My friend told me about this cool fitness challenge where you can earn money for your favorite charity just by completing miles and exercises.  Of course I had to jump on that bandwagon - PLUS I am leaving for Uruguay in less than a month and need to whip my rear end into shape.

One of the goals of this challenge is to complete 100 miles for charity by the end of eight weeks through this app called Charity Miles.  If you have not heard about Charity Miles, make sure to check it out on iTunes! For every mile you run/walk/bike/etc. they donate money to one of the charities from which you can choose.  ToneItUp is also randomly selecting one participant a week to donate to a charity of their choosing.  I chose Hope Water Project as my charity as it is one I have been raising money for since early summer.

On top of the #100forcharity challenge, they also provide you with daily workout challenges and {from what I can tell} meal suggestions.  I am excited to do this because a few of my other girlfriends are going to participate as well.

If you want to sign up for the challenge go here: Tone It Up.

I have also created a Pinterest Board with pins of all the exercises for the Week//Day of the challenge.  I created this board because it will help me keep my days in order.

Follow Jackie Vore 's board Fit for Fall 2015 on Pinterest.

Throughout the challenge, I will keep the board in my side bar as well -------> 

Be looking for updates on my progress as I go!

Question of the Day: What charity would you choose to donate to if you had the chance? 

I'd love to hear from you!

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That Time I Ran from Zombies

Happy Thursday Friends! I hope all is going well and you are enjoying your week.  Guest what?! Tomorrow is Friday! This week has been super long for me, so I am looking forward to a weekend getaway with my cousins.

Today I'm super excited to tell you about this app that I came across while browsing Imgur the other.  It's called Zombies, Run!

Here's their Launch Trailer video:

Honestly, when I started researching the app, I was a bit skeptical, but I can say with full honesty that the app kept me going and I found myself wanting to run as long as possible to complete the mission and get all of the supplies to bring back to base.  

My enthusiasm for running has not been too high lately, so I was excited that I found something that not only made me want to run, but it kept me going once I got fifteen or so minutes into the run.  I think the app is perfect for motivation when you are just not feeling it.

For my first run I had the measurement set to kilometers, but you can switch it up to miles.  I just did not realize that until after I had completed the run.  The goal of our run was to just get from my apartment to the gym, but we ended up going even longer because we were very close to finishing the mission and the zombies were chasing us.  Obviously, we did not want to get caught haha.

One of the other great features of the app is the ability to track your map, distance and pace.  The picture above is an overview of the ran we did the other day.  Obviously, we were not going super fast, but it will be neat to track my progress from the first story to the next.

Currently, the app has free missions, but to get the full use of the app and access to all of the missions you have two options:

1. $2.99 a month

2. $19.99 a year 

Personally, I was hoping the app would be a little cheaper to use, but I fully intend on buying the full version because I am that excited about this app.  As I get deeper into the story line, I will be sure to share more with you all.

Interested in trying this app out? Go here!

Question of the Day: What is your favorite running app?

I'd love to hear from you!

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Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Had My First Run....

....and I Didn't Die.

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that I signed up to run a 1/2 marathon, but I honestly had not taken the time to get a run in until today.  Thank you to my friend Christina for encouraging me to get my butt outside and moving for the first run of the training plan.

Because I am working with Hope Water Project, they provided a training plan that I could follow to get ready for the 1/2 Marathon in January.  This week I am supposed to run Monday, walk Tuesday, run Wednesday, Crosstrain Thursday, Rest Friday, Run Saturday and Rest Sunday.  Instead of running last night, I ended up doing an arm workout with Christina, so we got in a run today.

Obviously I am starting out at square one since I have not ran in a few years, and let me tell you, it was a lot more difficult than I thought.  My calves were screaming, my lungs were screaming and I was overall very tired.  However, now that I am sitting here writing this, I do not feel nearly as badly as I did while we were out there.  Yay!

We ended up doing a little longer of a run than I had originally planned, but I was okay with that since we got frozen yogurt.  If you have never tried frozen yogurt (froyo) then you need to make your way to your local froyo place and give it a shot! So delicious and 1/3 the calories of regular ice cream.  

Thankfully Christina used her app to track our time, but I am on the hunt for a good running app or watch.  Which leads me to the question of the day: 

What is your favorite running app/watch? 

Leave your recommendations in the comment section - I look forward to reading about your favorites!

I'd love to hear from you!

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What #NoExcuses Means to Me

Happy Tuesday Friends! Gosh every time I post I feel like I am giving another excuse as to where the heck I've been the past few weeks.  Well not anymore! 

If you can remember, a few weeks ago I talked about my becoming a #SweatPink Ambassador and how I joined the New Year, New You, No Excuses challenge.  Over the past few weeks I have been doing the challenges and sharing all of the pictures on Instagram.  On top of the daily challenges, they also give us a little weekly challenge to partake in and this week's challenge is to talk about what #NoExcuses really means to each one of us. 

It is rather ironic that I would be talking about this subject today since last night was filled with excuses for why I could not get to the gym: I'm tired - I don't feel well - I would rather sit at home and catch up on TV ( I mean who doesn't love The Bachelor) - I think my husband would prefer I didn't go to the gym... and the list goes on.

If I am being honest with myself, the plain and simple fact of me not going to the gym is because I am lazy and just did not want to.  However, when I woke up this morning, I knew I made a mistake and should have gone and spent the 30 or so minutes to get even a quick workout in.  

So what does #NoExcuses mean to me? 

I means keeping a commitment to myself, to actively working toward my goal and to living with no regrets. 

I do not want to live my life with the feeling that I failed myself by not following through at the gym or in other areas of my life.  It is time that I stop making excuses for myself and move forward to becoming the best and most exciting version of myself that I can be.  

Question of the Day: What excuses will you be throwing out the window?

Disclaimer: This post is in no way sponsored by Sweat Pink or any affiliates.  The views and opinions expressed are my own and I have not received any compensation for this post

New Year. New You. #NoExcuses

Happy Friday Friends! I hope your week has been going well and you have some fun and exciting things planned for this coming weekend.  With Justin's birthday around the corner, we will be celebrating his birthday with our friends at our apartment with a game night, pizza and ice cream cake.  Nothing too exciting, but low key is how we do everything.

Have any of you noticed this little badge floating on the side of my blog?

I am proud to say that I am a member of the Sweat Pink Ambassador team.  What is Sweat Pink do you ask? 

About the #SweatPink Team

#SweatPink, also known by its parent company, Fit Approach, is a movement founded and run by two fabulous, ambitious cousins, Jamie and Alyse. Its main purpose? To build a sisterhood of women, dedicated to perpetuating fitness and health as legitimate tools and vehicles for female empowerment. In the words of the founders, "#SweatPink ambassadors believe that kicking rear is best done in pretty shoes, and that assertiveness, strength and ambition are the ultimate feminine qualities. We concede that sometimes it takes hours to get ready, but we’re also no strangers to just rolling out of bed and going. We’re convinced that we run faster in pink shoelaces. We believe in pushing ourselves, and we believe in giving ourselves a break, too. We’re all about the rush of endorphins and the thrill of the challenge. We’re all for looking great and feeling even better. We’re committed to finding our best fit, and making it stick."

Sounds pretty awesome right? I am awful excited to be part of this team and begin working on finding out what makes me tick in the gym alongside with some rather awesome ladies.

New Year. New You. #NoExcuses

How has your first nine days of the year gone? Have you kept up with your resolutions? Or are you like me and are just getting started preparing for them? Well, if you have a fitness goal for 2015, this is a great opportunity for you to get some extra motivation and join the #NoExcuses challenge.

About the Challenge:

We had so much fun holiday sweat’ing it up with y’all during the holiday season and hope you did too (long live #holidaysweat). But now that its January (OMG!) and we’re all back to work and daily routines, we realize we need more encouragement, motivation and support than ever before to arm ourselves to have the best year yet

Just because the holidays are OVER doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. Soooo, let’s keep the the motivation, inspiration, social sharing fun going and going and going. We invite you to join us for the #SweatPink #NoExcuses Challenge.  

Here’s what you can expect:

• Each Sunday we’ll send you an email with weekly prompts (workouts, healthy snack ideas and more)
• We ask that you share your answer or interpretation of those prompts daily via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, your blog, etc using #NoExcuses #SweatPink for a chance to win fun weekly prizes from brands like Augusta Active, ShowerPill, Beaming with Health….etc etc…
• Each day, we’ll all share what we’re doing and how we’re doing it on our social channels and help each other stay accountable, motivated and on top of our goals.
• Every Friday, we’ll send around an email with winners, prizes and our favorite Tweets, IG posts and blog posts from the week (hello, link love and social sharing!)

LET'S GET SWEATY! 

So what do you think? I'm hoping you will join the challenge with me and we can all have a year of #NoExcuses!

If you want to participate: join here

Question of the Day:

What are your fitness goals for 2015?

People I love to Hate at the Gym & Then Some

Happy Hump Day Everyone! I hope your week is going swell thus far and it only continues to get better! 

Back in early March, Danielle and I decided that it was about darn time that we started working out and getting back into our fitness routines.  Of course, the best way to do anything is with a friend so she signed up at my gym and we started going regularly.  Of course, with any experience there are things that happen that are just.plain.irritating.  A few weeks ago I came across this funny article on BlogHer that I just had to share with you all {+ add a few of my own} because it hit most of my irritations spot on.  For the original link, click here.

8 People I Love to Hate at the Gym

According to Menopausal Mother, 8 people we love to hate at the gym are:

1. MIRROR HOGS: These are the women who run into class late and scoot in front to get a spot by the mirror. Coincidentally, they're the same people who lack coordination and throw the entire class off. I can't be responsible for what happens if my elbow connects with their face.

2. YAPPERS: After living on rabbit food for a month, the last thing I want to hear about is your orgasmic experience with a seven-layer brownie cake.

3. POOPERS: These ladies drop their stink bombs off in the gym bathroom before hitting the treadmills. I understand the need to clean out the bowels before working out, but do us all a favor and take your fiber supplements AFTER you exercise.

4. DNA SWAPPERS: Some people think nothing of leaving sweat puddles on the equipment or hacking up a lung while recovering from the flu. DNA samples are not necessary unless a forensics team needs them after drawing your chalk outline on the gym floor.

5. CHRONIC FARTERS: These women have blow holes like whales and no interest in corking it for the sake of other people's olfactory systems. When I Zumba into their fart clouds, my nose hairs feel singed and my eyes water as if I've been hit by tear gas.

6. EXHIBITIONISTS: Women who come to the gym in shorts that reveal every inch of uncovered lady bits and tank tops begging for a Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Go buy a freakin' bra.

7. EQUIPMENT HOGS: These people get lost in a daydream and sit for an hour on the machine instead of doing their reps. Makes me wish I had a pocket defibrillator or a taser to shock them into moving.

8. BARBIE DOLLS: You know the type. Perfect bodies. Botoxed out the butt ... and yet they whine, “OMG, I need to lose 20 pounds!” Just. Shut. Up.

On top of these already hilariously true & fantastic options, I wanted to add a few of my own:

9. GRUNTERS: I understand that you are getting a great workout, but if you could please not make noises that sound like you're having a difficult time in the bathroom, that would be great.  I am already grossed out at your unnaturally large arms, I would really not like to imagine you on the toilet {Insert Lunk Alarm Noise}.

10. DROPPERS: This one ties in with the grunters.  If the weight is too heavy that you cannot set it down gently {like a normal human being}, then you should probably cut back a little bit.  I would really appreciate not being scared out of my skin and off of my machine while running by a loud, terrifying bang on the floor.  

11: SINGERS: Yes we all love Kelly Clarkon's "Since You've Been Gone" but I think your rendition is a bit too much for everyone around you.  If we really wanted to listen to the song, we would just listen to it on our own time.

So, how many of these made you laugh? I laughed at almost all of them because they are 100% true.  Unfortunately, I have to admit that I am a singer (one of my biggest gripes too!) but I often get lost in what I am doing and do not realize that I am singing out loud until I have already irritated half of the people around me.  That is something that I will have to start working on.

In case you did not already have a good laugh today, take a gander at this video (of course it is also fitness related).  My friend, Danielle, shared this with me last week and I laughed way too hard! 

Click here for the video!

Question of the Day: What is your biggest gym related pet peeve? 

My 2014 Physical Challenge: Challenge Two

Photo rights belong to 30 Day Fitness Challenges

Happy Thursday everybody! I hope your week is going well and your Thursday is going quickly for you! For today's post, I wanted to share with you the physical challenges that I have given to myself.  Like everyone else, I would love to lose some weight for the new year, but in years past I have not had a solid plan for how I was going to accomplish that and I honestly was not successful. 

This year is a bit different though.  I decided to give myself monthly challenges that will go along with my other workouts to help keep me accountable during this whole process.  I have already started with the 30 Day Easy Push up Challenge.  As you can see, they are pretty simple and start out with only a few push ups a day.  For me, it seemed better to start with counter top push ups and increase the amount by 10.  So tomorrow, instead of 12 push ups I will be doing 22.  

On top of doing these challenges, I have a goal to workout at least two times a week, run another 5k, run a 10k, and possibly run a half marathon.  I had a half marathon on my goals list for 2013 and was not able to do it because of my physical issues.  But now that I have all of that lovely stuff worked out, I am going to try my hardest to do one this year.

|| Easy Pushups || Wall Sits || Crunches || Squats ||  Tricep Dip || Little Black Dress ||
|| Plank || Arms || Beach Body || Butt || Abs || Burpee ||

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I have provided links to each of the challenges for your reference, but if you'd like to look at them feel free to check out my 2014 Challenges Board on Pinterest! These seemed like reasonable challenges to me to at least try, what do you think? I tried to layer them out so that one month would be arms, one would be legs, and one would be core that way I am not focusing entirely on one part of my body as you need to give your body rest.

As I continue doing these challenges, I will be sure to give you updates! I'm hoping that by doing small challenges daily I will help myself reach my ultimate goal of being in a healthy weight and healthy shape.

Question of the Day: What physical challenges have you given yourself for 2014? 

**Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by 30 Day Fitness.  These views are my own and have been discussed at my own free opinion.